Blacktown City snatch tight victory over Wolves
Blacktown City edged past Wollongong Wolves 1-0 on Saturday night with a disciplined display at WIN Stadium.
After a quiet first half from both teams, Jak O’Brien won the points for the visitors with a well-hit strike late on in the fixture.
It was a chance-shy first half, with neither team giving anything up early on. The teams went into the sheds with the deadlock still to be broken.
In the first half, the Wolves habitually found switch passes towards the wide areas, getting their wingers into advanced positions, yet City remained solid.
The only major chance of the first half fell the Wolves’ way. Woon Sub Sim slid a clever pass into Raphael Le’ai in the box, who rifled a right-footed shot towards Henderson, but the goalkeeper batted the ball away.
City quickly took the ball down the end through Danny Choi, whose left-sided cross narrowly evaded Travis Major at the far post.
The teams went into the sheds level with it all still to play for in the second half.
The second half adopted a quicker tempo, with chances for both sides.
In the 52nd minute, Le’ai picked up the ball on the left wing and drilled in a superb delivery that Nicholas Olsen failed to make contact with at the far post.
Olsen had another chance six minutes later, Ryan’s left-sided cross found the makeshift striker, but he hooked the ball wide of the left post.
Olsen came close again not long after that; his right-footed effort from the edge of the box sailing over.
In the 62nd minute, Martin Fernandez returned fire for the away side, jinking neatly to get into the box, but his shot rolled safely to Daniel Solsky.
Two minutes later, Wollongong had an excellent opportunity to take the lead. Olsen’s ball from the left looked destined to find Alex Masciovecchio, but Lachlan Campbell pulled off a phenomenal interception to take it away from the winger.
The chances kept coming, and in the 65th minute, City’s Choi fired the ball into the left side netting outside the post from the left of the box.
O’Brien had the best chance so far to open the scoring six minutes later.
The forward chased down what looked like a lost cause, but a mis-queued clearance from Solsky presented a chance to curl a strike into a vacant net from range. However, a retreating Ben Giason crucially nodded the ball away from goal and behind for a corner.
In the 79th minute, O’Brien made the breakthrough for City. Some purposeful play from Jarred McKinley and Mitchell Mallia provided space for O’Brien inside the box, who blasted the ball into the goal off the left post.
Ten minutes later, City could have sealed the game when Mallia took aim from the left of the box, with Solsky pulling off a close-range block.
City defended well in the remaining minutes to see out a victory over Wollongong and get back to winning ways.
Goalscorer O’Brien said he was happy to get back to winning ways ahead of a tough schedule facing fellow front-runners Marconi Stallions in NWS Spirit in the coming weeks.
“We wanted to bounce back [tonight],” he said.
“We’ve got a big couple of weeks coming up with Marconi and Spirit.
“Up the top, you can’t afford to lose many points, and those are big games, so it was a good win tonight to get the ball rolling again.”
Wolves coach Warren Grieve said the defeat was tough to take, given that he felt his team had executed the game plan, especially without in-form striker Lachlan Scott.
“I think we’ve done enough with the players that we had on the park to get a couple of goals tonight,” he said.
“We created some chances, but the reality is you’ve got to put the ball in the back of the net.
“He’s [Scott] the last of a dying breed of a number nine who can play with his back to goal. He’s very much a focal point for us and somebody that we can get the ball up to and trust that he can protect it.”
Match Stats
Wollongong Wolves FC 0
Blacktown City FC 1 (Jak O’Brien 79’)
Saturday 17 May 2025
WIN Stadium, Wollongong
Referee: Rowan Fisher
Assistant Referees: Hayden Michlmayr and Hayden Kaye
Fourth Official: Charlotte Flynn
Wollongong Wolves FC: 13. Daniel Solsky, 2. Harrison Buesnel, 4. Dylan Ryan, 7. Woon Sub Sim (6. James Anagnostopoulos 72’), 10. Liam Ball (3. Darcy Madden 58’), 14. Banri Kanaizumi, 17. Marcus Beattie, 21. Nicholas Olsen, 25. Alex Masciovecchio (12. Dylan King 72’), 29. Ben Giason, 77. Raphael Le’ai
Substitutes Not Used: 1. Oliver Yates, 8. Sebastian Duarte, 15. Dax Kelly
Yellow Cards: Nil
Red Cards: Nil
Blacktown City FC: 1. Cayden Henderson, 3. Jarred McKinley, 4. Lachlan Campbell, 5. Grant Lynch, 7. Travis Major (14. Mitchell Mallia 46’), 8. Jak O’Brien, 10. Maksim Jez, 11. Danny Choi (9. Keanu Moore 83’), 18. Nicholas O’Brien, 19. Sebastian Hayward (17. Martin Fernandez 58’), 24. Jackson Bandiera
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Zac Bowling, 26. Aiden Renshaw, 34. Jake Briggs
Yellow Cards: Lachlan Campbell 76’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings:
3 – Jak O’Brien (BC)
2 – Ben Giason (WW)
1 – Lachlan Campbell (BC)
Report by Tim Gibson
